Accidents happen and we have a Screaming Queen Deluxe!

Casualty visit

We were on our way to the shopping mall, with Hubby carrying a sleepy girl on his shoulder.
He did not see the pole next to the shopping trolleys and it cut into Little Missy's leg.
(Who makes a pole with sharp edges on top?)

So off we went to the nearest Hospital Casualty with a screaming child! I was holding my hand over the wound with a tissue, and Hubby was driving as fast as he could. Little Miss was crying, and screaming, and whimpering and asking every two seconds if we were at the Hospital already!

At Casualty she was also performing every time they came near the wound. They had to calm her with a plaster over the wound and drops, but it did not really work! As soon as she saw a trolley coming near, or a nurse or doctor approaching, it was screams and antics!

In the end they rolled her in a sheet to keep her arms from touching her leg, and Hubby had to hold her while the doctor stitched her up!

She was screaming that she was still feeling everything, and that they were hurting her! Hubby got upset and asked if they were sure that she could not feel anything. But she had the injection, and they assured us that it was not sore any more! She got four stitches and a tetanus shot. The injection in the end was the worst because she did not expect it and it was very sore! But we had to have it done!

While we were walking out of the doors she told us that she could not feel a thing, but that she was afraid and that's why she was screaming so much..

Yes, our girl is a true Screaming Queen Deluxe!
(The same as I remember myself at that age!)
That's why the teeth hang by threads and it gets lost!

Luckily she is all bouncy again today with a story to tell!


Who wants to go with her when they have to remove the stitches next week?

A feverish weekend

We were planning a very relaxed Women's Day and weekend this past weekend!
(Murphy?!)

Little Missy started with a runny nose, and by Thursday night we were struggling with fever.
But not enough to prevent us from going to Decorex on Friday, our yearly inspiration! (And desperation!)
(I had won two tickets through Twitter's Stavey Vee! Yay!)

We dosed Little Missy with medicine, and for the most part she was sleeping in her stroller.
(As a matter of fact, Little Missy gets dosed by any medicine, so it is not on purpose that we "dose" her. We need to give the Panado or the Celestamine on occasion.)

(Dad got a lot of smiles from all the ladies while pushing her)

It was cold and rainy, but definitely not enough to keep the crowds away from Decorex.
I never knew I needed that thing, until I saw it right there!
Now our house and its interior decoration needs a complete overhaul!
We will be chasing that rainbow (see top photo), after all! *Wink smile*

Friday night had us up with the fever again. The Panado and suppository just before 12 did not help.
She was waking us up with fever dreams: "Hold me!" "I'm scared!" (Eyes wide open, but not awake! Afterwards she told us there was a HUGE FROG who touched the sky...)

While busy running the second bath of the night to cool her down, I followed my own rule:

"As soon as you begin to think "Should you take her to the doctor, or not?" - Take her!"

So we walked into emergency at 2 am on Saturday morning.

Not feeling well at all with red cheeks

20 minutes after the hospital's suppository kicked in!
Up and about!

The fever was dealt a definite blow, and up until now we are only struggling with the runny nose. I did not give her the antibiotics that was prescribed...

The rest of the weekend we tried to recover from the lost sleep, and spend some time with the family!


How was your weekend?

The princess has found her dad!

The fairy tale ending in the Toddler’s life revolve around the princess finding her Dad!

Whenever we read or see a story about a girl / princess meeting and marrying her prince, the Toddler exclaims:  “Sy het haar pappa gekry!” (She has found her dad!) No doubt as to who is the most important in her life at this stage!

My dad has been in hospital, and we visited him twice this weekend. He has a very bad upper respiratory infection, but it seems he is on the mend again...

The Toddler has been very interested in this whole hospital story, and she has been babbling non-stop about the “doctors fixing him”...

After her first visit she exclaimed: “Hy soek sy Ouma!” (He wants his grandmother!) (My mom was not with him when we went to visit the first time.)

The Toddler sees the world as fixed when the family unit are together...



Hope you all get your “Dads” this week! (Wink smile!)

My Dad gave us a scare

My Dad is in his early 70s, and still as busy as a bee. When he is not reinventing his garden, and replanting all the plants, he is busy driving the kids around at the day care in the afternoons. He is also involved at the Church, and goes with the regular prayer group to the hospital.


He is always available when somebody needs him, and usually looks after all the neighbours’ gardens and houses when they are away. He drives around every week for his mother, who lives nearby. On Thursday he was planting flowers at her house - and his house - before he had to leave for the afternoon to drive the kids around. After that he felt extremely bad, with a chest pain.

They identified hiatus hernia on Saturday, but had to confirm it with more tests...

Today he had two stents implanted in the veins near his heart! It was caught just in time! Totally unexpected!

Very scary indeed! Nothing that brings you close-up with mortality more than this! The heart [not attack] scare!

We hope you feel better very soon, Dad!

Mieka loves it when she sees him at the day care. He has to carry her around. Or swing (“swee-swee”) her to her heart’s delight on the swings! She sometimes gets very upset when he has to put her down to do his rounds!

“Oupa! OOU-PAAA!!” (Grandfather) sounds so cute when coming from the toddler’s lips! Every Time!

Enough of the weather already and another day in hospital

It is rainy, overcast and cold here in Johannesburg. And we had to go to the hospital yesterday! Again!

It is very strange weather for this time of the year! Especially the rain. It feels like we are experiencing Cape Town weather. Cold and wet and it is not even winter yet. We hope it doesn’t signal a cold winter coming up? Maximums of 14 and 15 degrees and we COMPLAIN here! (Smile)

The toddler had an abscess drained the previous week, and on Sunday we saw the spot had started to grow again. Aaargh! Poor baby! Yesterday we had to go through the whole thing again: Book into hospital, theatre, having to sit with our little one while she is groggy after the anaesthetics. It feels so unnecessary but there is apparently nothing else to be done. An abscess has to be cut and drained, and it is better to put babies down because they won’t lie still on their own.

The cut was made bigger underneath her arm, and the surgeon inserted a small piece of gauze in the wound to keep it open for longer. I am SOOO squeamish, and I feel so sorry for Mieka. I just hope it is the last last time!

Photo: Mieka just before she went into the theatre. She was hungry because we could not give her anything to eat since 11 am, and she only went in after 6 pm.

Related post:

16 months and an unexpected day at the hospital

16 months and an unexpected day at the hospital

Mieka had an abscess drained today in the hospital. It was a very scary experience!

Our day started as usual, with us trying to get dressed. The teen tried to help me by taking Mieka from me. When she picked her up, Mieka cried out in pain. I immediately knew it was the red bump under her arm which has been growing. It looked like an insect bite, but on Sunday we saw that the bump was redder and more inflamed! I wanted to take her to the doctor on Monday, but we had other errands to run. This morning we had no other option, although I still believed that she only needed a cream, or something...

The doctor immediately said that it was an abscess, and that she had to get a surgeon to look at it. Horrors!! We landed up at the hospital, having to book the toddler in for the day. The surgeon came round during his surgeries, but said that it wasn’t such a big deal. He would drain it, and leave it open for it to keep on draining (no stitches).

It was extremely stressful to walk into the operating theatre dressed in the green clothes, holding her in my arms. She was fighting against the gas mask and crying. The next moment she was sleeping, and I had to leave her. I heard her little wheezy chest when she went under and it made me even more uneasy...

While we were waiting, I shed a few tears, telling Dries they were taking too long. 20 minutes felt like forever!

She was crying when they placed her in my arms, but luckily she went to sleep while we carried her back to her bed. The anaesthetist told us that the abscess was bigger than they had predicted.

I breastfed her when she woozily woke up, and after about 40 minutes she was eating and playing again. Luckily we could go home when they saw that she was fine... (How easy they bounce back! Tonight she was playing and babbling again, bouncing all over!)

It was an unexpected day! It seems we get lots of these with children. (Gulp!)

How do we get them to grow up? All in one piece?

(Photo: Mieka on Sunday - busy with one of her favourite activities - "talking on the telephone".)

We sidestepped the hospital! Yeah!

This morning we were seriously worried. Our little toddler was very lethargic, with the runny tummy and the fever. When all a little one wants to do is sleep, you know there is something seriously wrong!
We landed at a paediatrician, a Dr. Tsigambe, at Flora Hospital in Florida Hills. I was seriously impressed. It transpired we were not supposed to give her antibiotics – we were on our second course already. It doesn’t help for a viral infection, and it exacerbates the runny tummy.
Why do the doctors give it as easily as they do?
We had to make the call to have her booked into the hospital, or try beating it ourselves. With lots of fluids! We made the decision to try a last time. She started to perk up at the doctor already. We forced the hydrating stuff (it is really awful!) with a medicine dropper down her throat. She must seriously hate us for it! She begins to scream as soon as she sees the medicine dropper. Luckily she loved the coke, and by this afternoon we got a smile, and she was walking around again. (Sighs of relief!) I hate the hospital, and especially for a little one who doesn’t understand yet...
Why I was impressed with the doctor? It seems he has time for his patients. Some of them phoned him while he was busy with us. I did not mind even a little bit, because I know it may someday be me. And there was actually a receptionist who knew the people coming in, calling them by name. And commenting on all the little ones and how they have grown. She also did not mind it when the little ones wandered off into the offices, or played with the water. She took in her stride...
Tomorrow I am going to stay with her – the breast feeding is the lifesaver which keeps up the fluids!
(She is sleeping now!)